Sonic Riders: Shadows
by Animegeo
Summary: An evil new foe comes, named Dark The Wolf, who has black rings named Shadow Rings that have mysterious powers. Meanwhile, Shadow, Sonic, and Jet find their own Shadow Rings, and are causing problems. They end up meeting more then once. Problems evolve even more. Later, there is a tournament. Prize is the last shadow ring, everyone wanting it. In the end, a surprising twist comes.
1. Chapter 1 (Team Dark) Shadows Beginning

Shadow looked down on his new Shadow Walker. Shadow Walker was the new name for his shoes. They were now compatible with other skate-type extreme gear. G.U.N. has recently discovered a special ring with special powers that allows people to teleport from shadow to shadow. They drained some of its power and made it into another ring, attaching it to the Shadow Walker.

"These seem to fit me well, actually," Shadow says as Rouge comes in.

"Oh please. Maybe your name. They would fit me best, but I got my own shadow-teleporting gear now. G.U.N. transferred some of the shadow energy into my new yacht named The Pinkheart Glider. And since Omega is now on a so-called 'vacation', they put a few power-house upgrades into my gloves and Pinkheart Glider. We needed another power-type. So now I'm going to the training room to test these babies out! Commander's orders, actually. What about you?"

"I'm going to the training room too so I can see how could this Shadow Walker will do through shadows and grind rails. Maybe even grind rails IN shadows?"

"Stop thinking so much! Now come on." Rouge started walking towards the training rooms. When the two g.u.n. agents got to the room, there were 6 doors: Speed, Speed-Fly, Fly, Fly-Power, Power, Speed-Power. "Cya when I'm done." Rouge glided into Fly-Power. Shadow stepped into Speed.

There were grind rails everywhere along with alot of WALLS, but not many pieces of road. Shadow looked up to see a glass screen with a G.U.N. soldier in it. He commanded Shadow to go to the starting line for the one-lap test. He raised his thumbs, which meant 'Go', and Shadow's Shadow Walker turned on and he sped through the first piece of road.

He sharply turned to the left only to see a wall. He, instinctively, jumped into the wall, going into the shadows. He opened his eyes to see himself going through a void of darkness, spiraling from one end of light to the other. Shadow's vision blurred of a bright flash. His vision finally adjusted and he was on the other side of the room, speeding on road again. He saw another grind rail and jumped onto it. It led him to three loops, letting him enjoy the feeling of the wind forcing past his fur. Shadow realized the grind rail led straight to the ground! Suddenly darkness engulfed him, and he noticed he was going through a tunnel. A tunnel of shadows. A little curve. There WERE grind rails in shadows! But how... Instantly Shadow realized he wasn't in the shadows anymore. He hopped off the grind rail onto another piece of road. He was at top speed too. Then he realized there was a sharp turn! It was too late for a turn or else he would crash. He hopped and was actually running among the actual wall! When he made the turn he hopped off. That surprised Shadow of how much the Shadow Walker could do. But could it do even more than anyone could think possible..?

Shadow was finally done with the race. The G.U.N. soldier was taking notes until he finally gave a thumbs up to Shadow. Shadow nodded to the G.U.N. soldier as the soldier walked away to another room. Shadow's shoes went back to normal and he walked out of the training room, seeing Rouge there too.

"Does it work well?" Rouge asked.

"Better than the shadows themselves," Shadow said.


	2. Chapter 2 (Babylon Rogues) Shadow Plan

"So what's so special about these so-called Shadow Rings?" Jet asked, slamming his desk. "They'd better be useful or you're wasting my time!"

"Well, calm down first you green bundle of feathers!" Wave retorts. She shows the Shadow Ring visibly. "This ring has the power for people to travel from one shadow to the other. Like passing through walls, but more advanced. G.U.N. has already started making a few gear for their soldiers that have small pieces of energy of another Shadow Ring they have. I suspect that there must be more Shadow Rings out there!"

"Ah...but why would we need such a thing? Why not just make three small turns? Pretty stupid if you ask me!"

"And ANOTHER thing! Since it is also connected with our ancestors-"

Jet interrupted with a yelp. "IT IS?!"

"Yes, now let me finish! Since they are related to Babylon Garden, they also have the power to shift gravity. But not likes shift gravity directly, but by shadow. Lets say you go into the shadow of the floor. If you go out by a shadow of the ceiling, then your gravity will be shifted to the ceiling!"

"Blah blah blah! I don't care about THAT! How is it related to Babylon Garden?!"

"Because Babylon Garden apparently had the power to travel through the shadows, using these rings. Though I don't know how many."

"And how did you figure THAT out, Wave, since even I didn't know?"

"Your sister, Follin the Falcon, told me," Wave explains. Jet yelped, wide-eyed. Jet had a sister named Follin the Falcon. She used bike-type gear. She may not look like it, but she is some kind of power-house. She is pretty smart too, though not nearly enough to be half as smart as wave. She usually makes up some kinds of stories, but some are the real stories of the Babylon Rogues' ancestors.

"She's HERE?!" Jet shouts.

"Well, since Storm is kicked out for destroying my precious necklace and 'accidently' breaking your favorite hoverboard and failing to do a mission getting us almost killed, we needed someone who had strength. We NEED your sister in our group, Jet. She always wanted to be one of us too. You may not like how she used to always pick and tease on you, but we still need her. Besides, she might have changed!"

Jet rolled his eyes. "Ugh. Fine."

Suddenly the doors burst open and Follin jumped on the desk. "THANK YOU, LITTLE HALF BABYLON-BRO! Ah, you're still as small since the last time I saw you!" Follin gave Jet a noogie and Wave snickered a little.

"Get off my desk, Follin! AND STOP WITH THE NOOGIE!" Jet's face almost went dark green.

"Ok, ok," Follin said, backing off off his desk.

"Anyways. So, Wave, do you know why we would need them in the first place?"

"Well, the more means the more power. So if you gain all of them, you could probably actually choose from a menuof which shadow to teleport to! Maybe even turn into a shadow yourself! I'm not sure, but it gives great power."

"But what use would we even need it for?"

Wave thought for a bit, and then grinned. "What about making shortcuts through...races, competing against...certain people."

"Oh, now that actually pleases me," Jet says, grinning.

Follin glanced at both of them in confusion. "Uhh..." Follin scratches her head. "What?"

Jet explains Sonic The Hedgehog to Follin, and all the problems and races. "Huh," Follin says, "I heard of Sonic before. Sounds like quite an adventure if you ask me. Legendary Wind Rider and Fastest Creature Alive. Seems like you two could get along."

"NO!" Jet slams his hands on the table. "I AM faster then Sonic in gear and in air! He was just LUCKY all those other times!"

"Whatever, little hawk."

"I'M NOT LITTLE!" Jet yells.

"Jet!" Wave intervenes.

"What?" Jet asks, calming down.

"So what are we going to do? We don't know where they are."

"Well, we know where one is!" Jet grins.

"And meanwhile, I'll make a device that'll help us track them-wait...you aren't saying..."

Jet laughs. "Yep! We're invading G.U.N. and getting that Shadow Ring!" Jet grabbed his hoverboard, The Emerald Feather, and put the Shadow Ring on him. Meanwhile, Wave got her yacht, The Swallow Gear, and Follin got her bike, Motor Falcon.

"My first mission!" Follin says with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3 (Team Sonic) A New Mystery

"Too bad Knuckles thought it was boring to go to this Extreme Gear museum and stick guarding the Master Emerald, but oh well, his lost!" Tails says.

Sonic yawned. He also thought it was boring, but he didn't want his best bud to be alone. Plus, he didn't want to plan to run around with Amy chasing him around. "Wonder if they could make these extreme gear better? They already transferred gravitational energy into these things. What else could we possible need to upgrade these hoverboards?"

Tails laughed a bit. "Well, at least now we don't need to bother catching rings to update these stupid gear, now that they turned fly-type gear into yacht-types, and power-type gear into bike-types. Luckily speed-types get to stay speed-types instead of skate-types."

"Fortunately, 'cause I love these shoes," Sonic says.

"Did you hear about G.U.N.s new discovery?"

"What discovery? Omega #2? Nope. How many more upgrades could our whole world get?!"

"Sonic, stop complaining, or wondering. I'm talking about the Shadow Rings!"

"Shadow Rings? What's that?"

"Well, apparently, those rings hold the power to teleport someone from shadow to shadow. Like passing a wall, but more...experienced, i should say. They also say there's more than one, too."

"What makes them say that?"

"There's some criminal who is running chaos throughout a lot of cities. He steals money, upgrades, and other items too. But the thing is, he has a bag full of Shadow Rings, so he can pass through millions of shadows, passing over 100 walls just in one shadow-leap!"

"Well my speed could probably still catch up with him, but still. Wow."

"So now, G.U.N. has put security cameras EVERYWHERE to find the Shadow Stealer, which is his name now. And even if you have a small shadow ring or a black wrist-band, they'll take you in to see if your a companion of Shadow Stealer."

"If I didn't have to be taken in, I would LOVE to have one of those Shadow Rings. It'd be pretty cool."

There was a junction up ahead. It was close. Tails nearly panicked. "Sonic! Get out the map! Left or right?!" Sonic scrambled to fold out the map, but it flew away. But then...

A black and red person appeared straight through the wall of the tube and slammed into the car. An item flew onto the car floor. The person hopped onto Sonic's head, and leaped into the other wall. "Follow him to the right!" Sonic shouts. Tails turned right into the right tube of the junction, but the person wasn't there.

"That must have been the Shadow Stealer!" Tails exclaimed. But Sonic just looked at the ground. "Well...if it is...is this..."

Tails was confused. "What?"

"I think the Shadow Stealer dropped something..." Sonic picked up the item on the floor and showed it to Tails. "Do you think..?"

"It is a Shadow Ring!" Tails yelped, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, and according to the map, you made the wrong turn. So...how about..." He put the Shadow Ring on Tails wrist.

Tails was silent for a moment, but suddenly sped through the wall. Sonic looked around to see himself engulfed into a huge void of darkness. Weird spirits floating around, forming the tunnel's perimeter. One ghost dropped two items, and they both fell into Sonic's hands.

They finally got out of the tunnel, and they were in the right tube. Sonic looked at Tails wide-eyed too. "What, Sonic? Was it the ghosts? Was it the darkness? What?" But then Sonic held up the two items. "OH MY GOODNESS! How fortunate! Two more Shadow Rings!"

"And you know what that means? One for me, you, and Knuckles!"

"But what about the museum?"

"What's more important? This important mystery, or that museum you have lots of chances to go to?"

"Ugh fine!" Tails turned the car around immediately. Time to go to the Floating Island!


	4. Chapter 4 (Team Dark) Babylonian Raid

"Shadow, Commander gave us another mission."

"Which is..?"

"Well, it's not exactly a MISSION, but more like a job."

"Well, WHAT IS IT?" Shadow asks, crossing his arms impatiently.

"He wants us to guard the Shadow Ring. We work night-shift security for it now."

"Oh great, now I have to sleep during day time now with the sun in my eyes. Ugh." Shadow rolls his eyes. "But I guess I'll have to if it's Commander's orders."

"Just come on, you impatient bundle of darkness." Rouge flaps her wings and goes through the wall.

"Whatever," Shadow says, speeding into the shadows of the wall. It was so beautiful in the shadows to Shadow. Until he got to the other end. He realized that they were in the lab where they study the Shadow Ring.

It was nighttime.

"Wow, it's prettier than I imagined!" Rouge says, gazing at it.

"Don't you think about it," Shadow says, giving Rouge the eye.

"What?" Rouge asks in an innocent tone.

"Steal the Shadow Ring and be off with it. I know you too well, Rouge, so don't even try it. We're _guarding_ it, not _stealing _it."

"Whatever..." Rouge says, disappointed. She stands back up and flies into the darkness of the ceiling. "Luckily Isleep at daytime, or naturally supposed to."

"Yup. Lucky you." Shadow rolls his eyes.

Suddenly he heard the sound of windows breaking. What was that? It was silent now...

Suddenly a green blur waved past him so fast with a hoverboard that he didn't get to see who that was. Wait...did it come out of the shadows?

Shadow turned around to see a green hawk. "Jet!" Shadow said.

"That's me, black hedgehog." Jet smashed the glass that contained the Shadow Ring. It appeared that Jet had ANOTHER Shadow Ring?!

"Don't. You. Dare," Shadow warns, getting out a Chaos Emerald.

"Try me." Jet grabbed the Shadow Ring and ran out the opposite side where Shadow was. Suddenly Rouge jumped down, slamming on top of Jet, making the Shadow Ring roll out of his hand. But before Rouge got to grab it, a purple swallow swooped in and took it, and glided away on her yacht. Rouge got out her Pinkheart Glider and flew after the purple swallow, until Rouge remembered her. Wave! Rouge stopped and went into the other hallway, out of sight from Wave.

Rouge got to the end of her hallway, and Wave was coming by. Rouge jumped and sliced her foot sideways more powerful then before. It smashed into Wave's jaw, knocking her off and dropping the Shadow Ring. Rouge caught it before it fell. Looks like her power-house upgrade worked!

Suddenly someone punched Rouge's face, making her go unconscious and glide down to the ground, dropping the Shadow Ring into that new babylon rogue's hands. Jet, Wave, and the newcomer rode off with the Shadow Ring.

Rouge woke up. "What happened...?"

"The babylon rogues got the Shadow Ring," Shadow explains.

"Oh no! What are we going to tell the Commander?!"

"I already know," said the Commander, who suddenly walked in. "But I don't care, since there is more then one. If there's two, there's obviously going to be more."

"So...?" Rouge was curious a bit, but wondering.

"So, we want you two to find the rest of the Shadow Rings. So, here's a Shadow Ring Radar. We got enough energy to put into this radar so you can find the other Shadow Rings."

"Well," Shadow says, "we know where the other two are."

"And I want you to start NOW!"

"Let's go, Shadow," Rouge says, grabbing Shadow. She flies out the window of the G.U.N. Base carrying Shadow. "New mission for us!"

"And I wonder who we will meet along the way...hehe."


	5. Chapter 5 (Babylon Rogues) Falcon Enigma

"I guess my sister is of use somewhat after all..." Jet whispers to Wave.

Follin was just holding the shadow ring in her hands, staring at it. She turns to Jet. "Here, you have it. You thought of the plan."

"Nah. I have my OWN "ring" right here," Jet says, getting out a box. Wave looked at it, surprised. He opens it up and takes out the Ark Of The Cosmos. Wave gasped.

"The Ark Of The Cosmos."

"Jet! How did you get that?!" Wave asked.

"Well, it's part of our ancestry, isn't it? So I'm keeping it!" Jet was acting a bit addicted to it though. "Plus, it will help me defeat Sonic in many races! He only beat me that second time because he had one too!"

"What about the first time?" Follin asks.

"Uh...he...um...he just got lucky!" Jet accuses, scratching the back of his head briskly. "Plus, i won the WGP!"

"Because you cheated, actually..."

"Whatever!" Jet defends himself.

"Guys, just stop it!" Wave yells. The two quickly stare at her with blank eyes. _Ooh, I shouldn't have done that!_After the silence the two just argued again. Wave facepalmed herself. _This is getting us no where! Doesn't Jet see how incredible this power is?! Especially since it's from our ancestors! _Wave snapped back to reality just to see Follin and Jet still arguing.

"But I needed the Chaos Emeralds!"

"But-" Before Follin could argue back, Wave yelled. "PAY ATTENTION YOU HEDGEHOG-BRAINS!" Follin and Jet looked at her with offended eyes. "Jet, Storm isn't here anymore, so you will HAVE to get along with Follin no matter what. We can't go on with you two yelling at each other all the time!" Follin gave Jet a smirk. Wave turned to look at her intensely. "AND YOU! Jet is the leader, and you have to follow him! You can't make your own plans! And if you argue Jet, it will make matters worse! G.U.N. might even be looking for us! Now LET'S GET SOME SLEEP PEOPLE TO THINK OF A PLAN!" Wave stormed out of the room.

_Those idiots! If they won't help find the other Shadow Rings, then I will myself!  
_

As Wave stormed off, Follin gave Jet a startled look. _Maybe we did go a bit far today...I just wish Jet would stop complaining! Maybe I should just leave...it might make for the best. Besides, they only let me join because they needed some power. Well this power-house is leaving once Jet and Wave are asleep!_

Jet and Wave were finally asleep as their ship was still on Auto-Pilot mode. Follin got up slowly and changed into her public clothes. She sneaked out of the room and down the hallway, going down three flights of stairs.

Follin went into the driver-room, and she went to the exit door. She got out her bike-gear. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her. "Follin! No! Wait!" It was Wave. Follin kicked open the door and got out her ride. Wave got into the room and looked at her. "No! Dont-" It was too late though. Follin rode out of the door, and was falling downwards. She kicked on the Air-Resistance gear. Her bike steadied and glided among the air, towards the ground. She looked back at the ship to see Wave get her yacht and jump down, flying gracefully towards Follin.

Wave heard footsteps outside her room. She woke up from her sleep. _Wonder what that is... Ugh. I've had enough tonight, so I'd better be careful not to wake up Jet. _Wave quickly changed her clothes and went out. She followed the sound of footsteps quietly.

She got down to the final floor. She looked across the hallway to see Follin in the driver room ready to jump out. "Follin! No! Wait!" Wave yelled. But Follin just looked at her and looked back at the door, getting out her bike-gear.

_No! She's so stubborn! In case she runs... _Wave runs into a room next to the driver room that has their findings in it. "The cube...a chaos emerald...Ark Of The Cosmos..." Then she spots a dark black ring and grabs it. "Aha! The Shadow Ring!"

Wave runs back out and sees Follin just about to jump out. "No! Don't leave! Follin waitt!" But Follin rode out before Wave even finished her sentence. Wave runs into her room and gets out her yacht.

Wave runs to the door Follin left. She saw Follin glance back at her. Wave got on her yacht and went out, the door slamming behind her.

She felt the wind glide among her feathers as she flew down to catch up with Follin. She to the ground to see a blue hedgehog, yellow fox, and a red echidna looking at them. Then after that she noticed they were heading towards a floating island!

_Oh no! More trouble! Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles!_


	6. Chapter 6 (Shadow Walkers) Storms Coming

Storm kept trudging through the rain in the White Forest. _How dare Jet and Wave kick me out of the Babylon Rogues! Now I have been alone for freaking 20 days! Whatever. Despite how many missions I failed, they needed me! I know they won't pick FOLLIN for a new powerhouse. But if they did, that just makes me more angry! I WILL take my revenge on them! I will make my own team and I will DESTROY you two! _Storm clenched his fists tighter.

Then Storm felt a presence behind him. A bit far though, but it was moving from place to place everywhere. Storm braced himself, ready to...

Then he heard a footstep behind him. He flung his fist right at the person and they went flying into the air and they hit a tree far away very hard. Then Storm spotted something on the ground. It must have fell off of the person. He picked it up, and looked at the person. The object was a black ring, and the person was a black and red wolf.

Interesting.

Storm put the black ring on his wrist and walked away. He took one glance at the unconscious person. He turned back around and continued walking.

Storm looked back again and his eyes widened, startled. The wolf was gone! He could've sworn that the guy was out-cold. Then he turned back and looked down at the flash of movement underneath on his shadow. Storm started to get scared. A dark form was forming and coming out of the shadows! It suddenly turned into a hand, and grabbed Storm by the neck, and dragged him down into the shadows too.

Storm looked around frantically. He didn't care where he landed, but he flung his fist somewhere, and conveniently hit the person in the face.

Storm turned around to face him. It was the wolf! Storm suddenly burst and wailed his arms, hitting the wolf several times, landing many blows. Storm kicked him in the gut and grabbed him, and threw him.

Storm looked down to see his black ring glowing. Then he realized that he was in complete darkness, but he could see perfectly fine, and he was also floating! He also noticed that he was in a tunnel that was shaped out by spirits.

He looked back at the wolf, who was spitting out drops of blood. He immediately felt guilty. How could he have done that? Maybe that stranger was just passing by White Forest, and Storm just punched him instinctively anyways.

The wolf looked up at Storm. "Well you seem like a strong person, eh? What's your name?"

Storm silently gasped. Really? After what just happened, he asks THAT? But he might as well. He really felt badly guilty. "I'm Storm, Storm the Albatross. What about you?" But the wolf didn't say anything. He just stared at Storm suspiciously. _Well what's wrong with him, now?_ "It's only fair since I told you mine."

The wolf sighed. "Fine. I'm Dark. Dark the Wolf." Dark floated over to Storm close enough to shake hands with him. Was he imagining things, or was there a bit of action of trying to take the black ring off of Storm's wrist? "So, uh, what's up with you and these black thingies?"

"Oh!" Dark said. "The Shadow Rings?" _That must be what they're called...it actually describes it perfectly. Power of the shadows, and its a ring. How ironic? _"Oh, well, uh, I think you already know what they do, but they help you travel through shadows and stuff."

"Oh..." Storm says, already obviously knowing what it does.

"Hey, you seem like a power-house-type person! A bit...ok not that. But anyways, how would you like to join a team with me?"

"Sure!" Storm was getting his hopes up.

"Are you sure? No matter how dangerous it gets. How evil it gets. How risky it gets. How hard it gets. Do you want to, even with a lot of 'schemes' ahead of us?"

_Did I just imagine that, or did he say evil? Oh, whatever. I might as well. I don't want to be alone anymore! _"Yes," Storm says straight-forwardly.

"How about our team name?"

"Shadow Travelers?" Storm suggests, looking around himself if the spirits and darkness.

"Perfect. Now let's get out of here." Dark grabs Storm and floats out of the shadows.

The two companions were at the entrance of the canyon now. "I can't believe they kicked you out of the Babylon Rogues! I mean, so what if you failed some stupid missions? You were their power-house and also the one who stuck with them nearly forever! I can't imagine being alone like this..." Storm just gave a nod as his reply. "I promise I will never do anything that horrible ever t you!"

"Thanks, Dark..." Storm says. Dark could see that what he said comforted him more._ Hehe...that sucker. He doesn't even see that I'm using him! I just need some powerful help, and with him, maybe even some more Shadow Rings! Wait...where are my other three?! _Dark looked around frantically when Storm wasn't looking. Then Dark remembered near Metropolis!

He was running away from the G.U.N. Security as they chased him, trying to capture him and the Shadow Rings. He jumped from one shadow of a pipeline to the next. But then one pipeline, he nearly crashed into the car, and dropped some stuff. He figured they were nothing. _And they were my three Shadow Rings!_

Dark tried to remember the two people in the car. A blue hedgehog...and a yellow fox...he swore they seemed familiar! Wait, maybe two in the car, but three in a whole team! They were Sonic, Tails, and Knuckes! He tried to remember more about them. Sonic and Tails knew they wouldn't use a spare Shadow Ring...so they must be trying to give it to Knuckles, who guards the Master Emerald at The Floating Island!

Dark spun his head around to see the Floating Island itself. He saw a huge ship above it, but that probably didn't matter. Dark had to get those three Shadow Rings back!

He knew what he had to do. He needed Storm's help with this.

"Storm! We're going on a mission!"

Storm jumped up. "Really?! What is it?! I can't believe it! My first mission!"

"Do you know Knuckles the Echidna?" Dark asks.

Storm pounded his fists together. "DO I EVER!?" Storm started to growl. Dark knew that his hatred would help a bit.

"Well, the mission is, we're going to raid Knuckles and his friends, and steal their Shadow Rings!"

"Well, how are we going to do that?" Storm asked, trying to come up with a plan.

"We attack them, duh!" Dark didn't like Storm's stupidity, but at least Storm's muscles with help a lot more then the brains, since he already has them! "He is right over in that floating island!"

"Lets go then!" Storm got out his bike-gear. "Oh, by the way, this is my bike-gear. It's called Boulder Cutter. What about you?"

Dark got out his skate-type gear. "It's the Shadow Runner. Now let's go, already!"

The two headed out, and got to the bridge. As they were crossing the bridge, Dark looked up. A falcon was gliding down on a bike-gear and it seems as if that purple swallow was following her with the yacht. _What the heck?_

But there was no time to bother thinking. It was time to get his Shadow Rings back from those three!


	7. Chapter 7 (Team Sonic) A New Adventure

The garage of Tails workshop rose. "BEHOLD," Tails shouts from inside, "MY TORNADO III!" Tails drove it out of the garage. It was orange and yellow and white. It had 3 wings. Two on the sides, and one on the bottom. It also had a propeller in the tail. The cockpit had 5 seats. There was no propeller in the front though, just four smaller wings on it like whiskers on a nose. Last, the tail was raised a bit, and two banners stuck out from under the tail, well away from the back propeller.

"What's up with the propeller? I thought they were supposed to go into the front?"

"Oh! No. Just in case the Tornado III backfired, and we went into the ocean. Luckily the cockpit has an adjustable glass dome if we go underwater."

"Oh," Sonic says, finally realizing what the Tornado III is capable of.

"Also," Tails says, getting into the cockpit. He pressed a button and four machine guns stick out from above and below the wings. He pushes another button and a cannon sticks out of the front of the plane.

"Nice!" Sonic exclaims, giving a thumbs up.

"Thanks," says Tails as he presses a buttons and all the weapons go back to hiding.

"So we're going to drive this to Floating Island? You know its only across a tunnel that way." Sonic points to a tunnel far away that was blown up a long time ago.

"Of course not! I just wanted to show you!"

"Oh," Sonic replies, rubbing under his nose.

Tails jumps into the Tornado III and backs it up back into his shop, and the garage door closes. Tails comes out of the front door. He gets out his yacht, Yellow Turbine. He hops on. "Get your hoverboard out or I'll go on without you."

"Fine, fine," Sonic says getting out his hoverboard, Blue Glacier. "How about a race, Tails?"

"Sure," Tails replies, grinning.

Suddenly Sonic sped off. "Hey!" Tails shouted. "No fair! You got a head-start!" Sonic laughed in reply. Tails turned his yacht on, and he went off. He jumped off the small ridge, and glided down elegantly, landing right behind Sonic. Tails looked ahead to plan ahead. But then he saw the area where the tunnel used to be has been reconstructed! But then Sonic threw a Shadow Ring to Tails and gave a thumbs up. Tails nodded, knowing what he means. It was risky, since they haven't used it besides the time with the car.

They dodged the different people crowding around, and passed the lake. Tails was still on Sonic's tail!

Suddenly Sonic jumped into the wall and...disappeared?! Tails was engulfed in darkness but his vision adjusted to it quickly as if there isn't any darkness at all. He looked around at his surroundings and he was in a...tunnel? And it was shaped by white ghost spirits, but they didn't bother anyone. Tails suddenly saw a fly-type ramp with a few flight rings leading out of the shadows. Tails was surprised that there were even any OBJECTS in the shadows, but he should've figured.

The Yellow Turbine glided off of the fly-type ramp and Tails was immediately flying right above Sonic. He went through each ring with an extra boost. He went past the last ring and went into the shining hole the rings led to. But Sonic went into another hole that was just below that one.

Tails looked around and noticed that he was in another tunnel! And it was different from the others. He figured that it was a tunnel just above the one Sonic was in, and kept going on.

Sonic saw Tails fly into the hole above. Sonic knew he couldn't jump that high, and also there were no trick-ramps. Sonic just decided to go into the hole in front of him.

Sonic went into the original tunnel he remembered when he was on his journey of defeating Chaos. Sonic saw the pathway to the icy zone, but that wasn't where Sonic wanted to go. Sonic continued past the other tunnel. He curved and went around the wall, and made a loop around the whole tunnel.

Then he got to the end of the tunnel and saw Tails just a bit ahead in the air. Sonic saw a rocky grind-rail on the side on the cliff's walls. Sonic hopped onto the grind-rail, and his speed went up. The grind rail made three loops and went far above the entrance to the actual cliffs. Then Sonic hopped to the next grind rail and went straight down. Then he got off and jumped a rocky trick-ramp. He landed right beside Tails.

They both made the sharp left-turn and got to the bridge. They were neck-to-neck. Sonic looked up to see Jet's weird ship. He guessed that it was on auto-pilot since it was a bit late, and they would be asleep. Sonic and Tails finally got to their finish line at the end of the bridge.

It was a tie.

Tails hopped off his Yellow Turbine. _Nice race! I hope to do this again soon! _Tails thought. He saw Sonic get off his hoverboard. "Lets go tell Knuckles about the Shadow Rings!" Sonic says.

"Well that's why we came here, isn't it?" Tails jokes. Sonic and Tails walked over.

_Huh, maybe I should have gone to the Gear Museum with Tails and Sonic, because sitting here playing Go Hedgehog! with a spirit echidna is as boring! _"Go Fish," the spirit says.

"Ugh," Knuckles says, "This is boring."

"Same here," the spirit says. "It's getting a bit late. I'd better go. See ya." The spirit suddenly disappears and so does the cards.

"Well see ya, then." Knuckles looked to his right to see Sonic and Tails coming towards him. _Thank goodness! Or should I say...'what now?'_

Sonic came over to Knuckles. "Knuckles, guess what me and Tails found today!"

"What now?"

Tails finally caught up. "We found some mysterious rings that has the power to transport you from shadow to shadow! Also, inside while your traveling, there's a tunnel that is surrounded by white ghost spirits! And, and-"

Tails was interrupted by Knuckles. "Slow down, slow down. I get it already. That's weird. How did you find it?" Knuckles raises his eyebrow.

"Well," Tails started. He explains the whole story about the person who knocked into them and dropped the three rings. He told Knuckles his theory about that it might be the Shadow Sneaker.

"Huh," Knuckles says, interested, "well that's interesting. Three, eh? Can I have one? Maybe I can use it to beat up some of the people I h-" Knuckles cut himself off. "I mean dislike."

"Well that's mainly why we came here for! To give you one of them! Me and Sonic also had an epic race on the way here!

"Did you know?" Knuckles grabbed the third Shadow Ring and slipped it on. "Cool. Seems to fit me."

Sonic giggled a little. "Red and black? Tsk, totally not!" Knuckles rolled his eyes at Sonic's jokes.

Knuckles looked at Tails who was looking straight up. "What's wrong, Tails?"

Tails twitched his whiskers by the poorly-made joke Sonic said. Tails looked up. He saw an object falling out of the sky. Actually coming from Jet's ship. Was that other object FOLLOWING the other one?

_I must be imagining it...wait...that other object is...WAVE?! Wait, why is she following that yellow...wait, is that a falcon?_

Tails snapped back to reality when Knuckles asked Tails something. Tails blinked at Knuckles. "Huh, what? Oh, I'm fine." Tails poked Sonic, who gave him the 'What?' look. "Look up there!" Tails pointed into the sky at Wave and the other object.

Sonic looked at Tails, who had just poked him. _What? _"Look up there!" Tails says, pointing into the sky at two objects. Sonic looked at where he was pointing. Sonic widened his eyes. _Is that Wave?! Wait, who's that yellow falcon? Weird. She must be on a wild goose chase...Wait a minute... _Sonic squinted his eyes. _She IS chasing her!  
_

"Hey, Knuckles!" Knuckles jumped at the sudden voice. Sonic pointed to the sky at Wave and the falcon. "What do you think THAT'S about?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Probably a wild goose chase...wait a minute...is Wave actually chasing her?!"

"It appears so," Tails says. They all looked up at the ship. Sonic looked back at where the Master Emerald. He saw a white bat and black and red hedgehog. Rouge and Shadow!

"It appears _they _have it," Shadow says with a snort. "How convenient. We should've known."

Tails and Knuckles whipped their heads around at Shadow and Rouge. Sonic could see Knuckles brain-vein popping out visibly. "Bat-girl thief!" Knuckles says angrily.

"Long time no see, hot-head," Rouge says with a blow-kiss.

_What a convenient time a fight starts! _Sonic noticed Knuckles clenching his fists, obviously ready for a fight.

Sonic was ready too.


	8. Chapter 8 (Team Dark) The Next Three

Rouge flew above MeteoTech's pipelines. She looked at her radar. Shadow was running atop the pipelines toward her with another radar. "Well, three Shadow Rings WERE here," Rouge says.

"Ugh. This is a stupid mission. I don't feel like finding any Shadow Rings today. Do you know how big our world is?!"

"That doesn't mean they won't be in one spot, so chill." Then Rouge received an incoming call.

"Rouge," the Commander says, "We looked at our security footage and found out that a blue hedgehog and a yellow fox has three of them. I think they may be Sonic and Tails. Knuckles might have one too. You must find them. I don't care, fight them if you have to. We need the Shadow Rings!"

"Sure thing," Rouge says, turning off the earpiece.

"What'd he say?" Shadow asks.

"Look's like ol' hothead's gonna meet me, and your blue blur is going to be seeing you." Rouge grins.

"What do you mean..?" Shadow raises his eyebrow.

"Sonic has the three Shadow Rings."

"Oh ho ho, looks like we're gonna have some fun now!" Shadow grins evilly.

Shadow turns on the Shadow Walker while Rouge gets on her Pinkheart Glider.

They pass the big pumpkin hill of Pumpkin Mountain. Suddenly a ghost-train sped right in-between them, just hardly missing Shadow and Rouge, but they kept going. They suddenly dived down right in between two trains, going towards each other. The ghostly trains nearly crashed into Shadow and Rouge, but disappeared when they touched each other.

They suddenly went into the shadows of Church Hill mountain. But suddenly something pulled them toward the spirits, and they went through the wall of spirits. Rouge gasped. There was a church service going on. Neither of them could hear what the dead spirits were saying. Rouge coughed and suddenly all of the spirits looked at them.

Then there was a loud screeching noise. Rouge and Shadow covered their ears. The spirits trampled towards them. Shadow and Rouge got back on their gear and went back into the wall of spirits.

The exit was almost closed! _Almost there...almost there..._ Shadow and Rouge ducked and slid through the hole. They were tired but they kept going anyways. _We must get to Angel Island A.K.A. Floating Island!_

They went passed the walls of the pyramids. Shadow and Rouge jumped, tucking away their gear.

They both landed on grind rails.

Shadow and Rouge started going straight down, but then turned separately. Rouge looked back at Shadow and winked. _Exciting race, eh, Shadow?_ Rouge thought. She did three twirls and then started to go up. She might a little bit of a left curve and then a right. Then she went into the pyramid's walls. She looked down and saw that she was going to go down again.

Suddenly she felt her gravity shift and she was going upwards! The grind rail was going farther beneath her. She twirled around and slammed into more grind rails with her feet. She felt a bit woozy though. But she held it in.

She suddenly went down and did a loop, and went straight down towards pits of fire. Then she went right through the middle of the fire! She didn't get hurt though. She looked back to see that the fire had moved. She looked forward and she saw a wall. She covered her face with her arms, but then she was grinding in the shadows! She hopped onto another grind rail beside her.

Then she got out and jumped onto a single platform. She looked around and there was nothing to continue with. She looked at the place she exited and looked up to see a little lamp with a...purple flame?

Suddenly something grabbed her from behind her and dragged her down into the darkness.

Shadow went into the pyramid and went into the shadows, turn after turn. A bit exhausting but he had to get to Angel Island! Then he felt a force of wind pull on him and he realized he was falling! The rail broke off!

He got out his chaos emerald. "Chaos Control!" A flash of green light and he was gone.

He was now on ground in the pyramid. He turned around and saw Rouge in a cage. "Rouge!" He yelled. She blinked at him and yelled back but he couldn't hear her.

She pointed behind him and he looked behind him. He saw a big purple ghost standing in front of him. "WHY HELLOOOOO THEEEERE, LITTLE HEDGEHOG," the ghost spoke in a creepy voice, which made Shadow shiver.

"Hi. Yeah, well, I need that bat you have over there, stupid ghost."

The ghost stared at him and made a huge grin. "I've never heard of a bat and a hedgehog getting together before," The ghost jokes, laughing very awkwardly.

Shadow jumped and back-kicked the ghost in the face, but his foot just went past. _DANGIT! THIS IS WHY I HATE GHOSTS!_

The ghost laughed again but more loudly. "YOU CAN NOT EVEN TOUCH ME, YOU WEAKLING." Fire shot out of the ghosts mouth, but Shadow used his Shadow Walkers and kicked it into the ghosts face.

The ghost screamed loudly, his face turning red from purple. He wiped his face with his hands. "YOU WILL PAY, MERE WEAKLING!" The ghost grabbed Shadow, but Shadow jumped away from it's grasp.

"Just let go of my friend and I'll leave," Shadow negotiates.

The ghost glanced from Rouge to Shadow. "No thanks, I have...other plans...for bat-girl over there." The ghost licks his lips, and Rouge screams at Shadow for help.

"So what's your name anyways?" Shadow asks.

"They call me Ghustle The Ghost. 'You dare threaten me I'll threat you most' is my motto. Now what do YOU want?"

"I want your little friend over there." Shadow started getting mad.

"Well, maybe..." Ghustle thinks for a bit, then grins evily. "How about you trade spots with her?"

"WHAT?!" Shadow was disgusted. "NO I WOULD NEVER-" But then Shadow stopped. He thought of a plan. "Okay. Sure."

"Yippy!" Ghustle twirls around.

"But," Shadow says, suddenly Ghustle stopping, "maybe for a race. If you win, you let me and my friend go. If you win, you can keep us both."

Rouge looked at him with fear. "Shadow, don't!" But Shadow gave her a look that calmed her down.

"Hmmmm." Ghustle floated, thinking for a moment. "Sure. I haven't had a good race in years." Ghustle noticed Shadow looking down at his tail and then up at Ghustle. "Oh! I don't need those pieces of trash. I have myself, thank you very much!"

Shadow turned on his Shadow Walkers.

_3...2...1...GO!_

Shadow sped off and Ghustle just disappeared. Shadow looked behind him and Ghustle wasn't there!? Shadow looked up ahead and suddenly Ghustle was in front of him. Shadow slid and fell. Ghustle snickered and scampered off toward the finish line of the 1-Lap Race.

Shadow got up, staggering a bit. He regained focus. _Oh no! He's already half-way to the goal! Well, he's not the only one who can cheat! _Shadow turned on his Shadow Walker Mode, and he sped off again. He went through different shadow tunnels, getting closer and closer to Ghustle Shadow got passed another wall, taking a sharp right and grinding into another shadow tunnel. He jumps off into the next shadow.

He sees Ghustle right up ahead right behind the goal line. Shadow got out his chaos emerald and used chaos control and flashed in front of Ghustle, making Ghustle jump and run back a mile. Shadow turned off his racing-mode and stepped over the finishing line. "I win." Shadow grins.

Rouge felt herself falling. Wait, it wasn't her, it was the cage! The front door swung down, falling to the ground. Rouge stepped out and saw Shadow. "Oh, Shadow, thank you so much!" Rouge jumped onto Shadow and hugged him.

"Your welcome, then, now lets get to Angel Island!"

Rouge hopped off brushing herself. "oh, yea, right, let's go!" They sped off.

They glided passed the water. Rouge saw a little flying-rings appear, and a small wave coming. She went toward it and jumped and started flying.

Shadow looked at the rocks and saw a rocky grinding rail. He jumped onto it and ground to the start of the bridge. He hopped off and looked ahead. He saw Sonic, Tails, and Knuckes! Just his lucky day!

But then Shadow saw a ship above but he didn't bother to focus on that. Then he looked forward to see an Albatross and a red and black wolf. That wolf seemed so...so...familiar somehow..but Shadow shook his head and ignored that. He sped off behind the Master Emerald without anyone seeing. He hopped onto it and landed in front, with Rouge gliding down to sit on the Master Emerald.

Shadow saw Tails look at him and gasp. Shadow saw the Shadow Rings in the three's hands. "It appeared _they _have it," Shadow snorts to Rouge. "How convenient. We should've known."

"Hey, hot-head," Rouge says, blowing a kiss to Knuckles.

"Bat-girl!" Knuckles clenched his fists.

_If they want a fight, they can have it!_

But Shadow heard shouting. It was coming from above him? He and Rouge looked up. A yellow falcon with a purple swallow chasing her? Wait...those two! Shadow remembered when their Shadow Rings were stolen. Wave and..Follin, if he remembered correctly.

"Hey," Rouge says, "is that Follin and Wave? The ones who stole our Shadow Ring?"

"I believe so," Shadow says.

Sonic looked at them. "You know about them too?!"

"Of course. I'm an agent of G.U.N., remember? I came here to take those things from you. And conveniently, we can get a few more from the bird-brains in the sky." They all looked up at the birds.

_What the heck are they exactly doing?!_


End file.
